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The Politics of the Economy... Taboo Subject Here?

01-22-2008, 07:54 PM

By this time next year we will have a new president seated in office

The war in Iraq seems to have fallen off the front pages lately. Early on, I thought it would be the deciding factor in this election. Who was going to bring the troops home or do we stay and complete the rebuilding process.

With the economy making all the headlines lately and the weak American dollar; how or will that affect your vote? Parts of the country are starting to feel the pinch. Some of you have even mentioned the phone has stopped ringing TBH that would scare the crap out of me. Luckily for me, this area is pretty much recession proof. Always new money coming in with every administration. I still consider myself a fiscal conservative but my candidate of lately has run a horrible campaign and won't likely make it past Super Tuesday.

I don't believe either party has much to offer but with a slowing economy. Romney is one of the few who could rebuild industry but has zero military experience. McCain would be best for the war effort but he has given up on the Borders so I can't vote for him. Obama needs 10 more years of experience in the Senate before he is ready for anything. Billary just scares the heck out of me.

I don't believe either party has much to offer but with a slowing economy. Romney is one of the few who could rebuild industry but has zero military experience. McCain would be best for the war effort but he has given up on the Borders so I can't vote for him. Obama needs 10 more years of experience in the Senate before he is ready for anything. Billary just scares the heck out of me.

Mark

I could not have said it better, The only thing I believe that I can do is vote for the one I believe will do the least amount of damage.

Regards,

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You guys have summed up much of what I've been thinking for quite a while. Sure is a dam shame to have the right to vote but feel it will not have much positive impact on the serious issues facing our nation. Also is a dam shame that in order to not abstain from voting we must pick the candidate we feel will do the least damage. What ever happened to "The Will Of The People"? Most middle class working people want the borders secured, ecomony under control and the war in Iraq ended, among other serious things such as the price of gasoline, heating fuel and the rest dependant on OIL. Maybe some of those things can't be easily resolved such as Iraq, but there isn't one candidate who is doing much more than flapping their gums to make us happy. We have been busy working and sleeping for years while they passed N.A.F.T.A. and missed the boat to have other forms of energy in place. Now it's time to pay up and make some serious changes. So what are the chances of taking back our country, making it secure and financially solvent? I don't have a clue, but there are very smart people out there. Any ideas? Maybe we need to put a cap on personal debt before a person gets into too much trouble? Might work for the government to. I can't stand the Democrats and when the Republicans talk about tax refunds and keeping government spending down I think about the trillion dollars spent on Iraq. What a mess!

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Ross Perot, where is he. We need a business man/women in the chair. This country should be running like a business also. We need to be making money and investing in our company and that would be us. I'm tired of the same damn type of people running for office, all talk then hides behind someone else when the toughness comes around...

!00% health Insurance for the elderly and children.
Invest Social Security money
Slowdown imported products
and so much more......

Great Link for a Construction Owner/Tradesmen, and just say Garager sent you....

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Ross Perot, where is he. We need a business man/women in the chair. This country should be running like a business also. We need to be making money and investing in our company and that would be us. I'm tired of the same damn type of people running for office, all talk then hides behind someone else when the toughness comes around...

!00% health Insurance for the elderly and children.
Invest Social Security money
Slowdown imported products
and so much more......

Garager, you're right but it has to be the right kind of business person. Nowadays they make people vice presidents of corporations and they stick around for a year then up and quit with a big settlement. I worked for what use to be called New York Telephone, if you saw what they made us throw in the dumsters it would make you sick. Thousands of dollars worth of automotive parts because an auditor was coming around and they didn't want to account for the excess. Probably hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cable and assorted supplies, tie wraps, tapes, hardware. My point is even a business needs to be run like a business. I remember a few years ago President Bush did try to keep out some foreign steel but was threatened with all sorts of stuff from the global union and had to back down. The trade deficit alone is a monster of a problem that keeps growing. How come all these other countries can set import quotas and tarrifs, but we can't ? Something has to change.

Romney is known as the "Turnaround King" because of the businesses he buys and turns them into a profit. If he could do the same thing with an industry I think we might see a big change. The problem is Washington has gotten to a point where everyone is trying to get something for those they represent and not the Nation as a whole.

Mark

"Somewhere a Village is Missing Twelve Idiots!" - Casey Anthony

I never lost a cent on the jobs I didn't get!

Comment

Well the only candidate I liked dropped out today.I keep reading and seeing on Tv that Bloomberg might run..perhaps him I could vote for..not real sure.
However what frys my bacon is no truely good possible person will run for that job....Stop and think about it ..the last candidate I voted FOR was an actor..the only 1 I voted FOR..the rest of the time its voting for hopefully the one that will do the least damage to the country.Tis a sad state of affairs to more vote against a candidate then for one...which seems to be what happens way too often.
As for Iraq..its going pretty well now so thats not news worthy..I read some comments pasted from a military news on how well its going and that no news network covers the good parts enough.
The economy is a repeat of the savings and loan disaster a few years back.Mostly I blame banks for allowing people to borrow loans way beyond their real means and needs.To me the gov should have stepped in long ago and bought up those house loans and forced banking rules so that it could never be repeated.The gov could have set interest rates on those loans the people could have paid..Instead you have gov rescuing banks while the ceo's etc still get bonuses and the houses still get repo'd from the buyers.
Oh well I really doubt even a great candidate that won can change things enough in 1 term..corps really control things too much now..not just here but in most countries of the world...they need a hunting season on lobbyists once every 4 years ,4 bag limit should do it ,make em wear red to be easy to spot.
Sam

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Since I started to vote way back in 1962 it has always been, vote for the candidate who will do the least damage.

Back then, a lot of information on the candidates was not disseminated by the print and electronic media. In the 1970's, the media realized that they could greatly influence the elections. A blind study of media personalities by a think tank in the mid 80's pointed out that they thought that they should be running the country. We are fed news "pap" about candidates that reflect the media bias, issues are not fully covered by the media and facts are not chekched or broadcast. An example, the local newspaper here, last Sunday, published in- depth backgrounds of all candidates. Low and behold, the one that they did not like was "overlooked"

I don't believe either party has much to offer but with a slowing economy. Romney is one of the few who could rebuild industry but has zero military experience. McCain would be best for the war effort but he has given up on the Borders so I can't vote for him. Obama needs 10 more years of experience in the Senate before he is ready for anything. Billary just scares the heck out of me.

Mark

My thinking as well.In my opinion, one of the greatest underlying problems with our government is special interest politics.Our constitution was created to keep "We the people" in power, yet somehow big business has been able to slip through the loopholes and determine policy for the whole.The tobacco industry exemplified this problem in grand fashion, now it's pharmaceuticals, oil refineries...the list goes on and on.McCain has one thing over the other candidates.He stood up against the tobacco industry, almost losing his career to do what was right for this country and it's people.He could have alot more votes right now if he were telling us what we wanted to hear...making broad, generalized promises like Romney, Obama and Billary are now doing.I wonder, of the countless decisions made behind closed doors that directly effect our economy...how many are made with special interest taking precidence over the good of the people?As for the imigration issue, I truly don't know whether he would do the right thing....but he sure does seem like the lesser of the other evils.

Comment

Just the same as a lot of you I am frustrated with politics. I hate elections years because just about everywhere you go people take sides and a even neighbors become enemies all over the choice on a candidate that doesnt really fit what anyone wants.

For me its a least damage type thing but I have to admit some of the candidates are actually getting a bit closer this year for me. Of course they will be knocked out in the primaries but one can hope.

There is one person who I really really dont want in office but I pry shouldnt let on to who it is as the admin

The economy is turning down. Its a natural cycle. it will come back up after a couple years. I think even if you put someone in who really does have the potential to turn things around partisan politics knocks their legs right out from under them. Its a sad thing but somethings really got to change for our country to start making progress in politics again.

Josh

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Josh, when you said the economy will come back and it's just a cycle I wonder if that's accurate. Years ago the American Dream was a house, car and some odds and ends which if you worked hard and had a little luck you could make happen. Now we have millions of homeowners making payments on homes, cars and consumer goods they can't possibly afford except for the smoke and mirrors of extended debt. Aside from the retired guys on this site like myself most of the folks here provide needed services and hopefully will continue to earn income, but our country has lost tens of thousands of production jobs to third world countries at an unheard of rate over the last ten or so years. We also have the severe loss of jobs due to outsourcing and unlike many years ago illegals are performing more skilled jobs adding to our economic problems. I'm not trying to paint a picture of doom and gloom, but I do think these factors are unlike our former economic problems. Energy alone due to the manipulation of Oil has doubled the cost of gasoline, heating fuel and other related products. Consumers will either go further into debt or as we are seeing cutback their consumption of unnecessary goods. I want us to all stay healthy and safe as we face the future, I just can't imagine what it will take to reinvent our society? We need to be productive and protective of our economy. Every time I hear of a big company leaving the USA I think to myself there go more jobs that will never be replaced. How can we consume goods and services without jobs and income? How far will a tax rebate go? Not everything runs in a cycle, some things just run downhill and crash unless steps are taken to change course. I pray this whole mess gets turned around soon.

Comment

I myself am hoping Dr. Ron Paul will either get the republican nod or run third party if not.

I vote on one simple premise, their congressional voting record. Check it out for all candidates, you may be very surprised at what you read.

Hitlery is just plain scarey, she would be an abomination to this country. Her husband gave of us NAFTA, wondering where your job went, ask Hitlery.

McCain, well he has voted numerous times for amnesty for illegals, that right there should be enough to stop anyone from voting for him. All of a sudden we have 15,000,000 illegals that now get all the same services we tax payers do, just that they don't have to pay for them. How many thousnads more will come across our open borders every day if this happens.

Guiliani? No thank you. He has already stated he will spare no effort to capturing Osama in Laden, and has mentioned the return of the draft. He will make Iraq into a second VietNam.

Choose wisely, this is a very important election folks, how long can you sustain with 0 income?